Choosing between Indian Restaurants

The great thing about Indian cuisine is the availability of vegetarian options. Lentils, greens, roots and branches, are all conjured up to please. They are also there to titillate and really give you a culinary experience to remember. This is after all such a great and unique, varied type of food. This is why it is so loved by the masses too, also.

If you are looking for Indian restaurants around you then the most important thing is that you should know which kind of Indian flavours are you looking for. This is as you need to also remember too that so many different types of food. They are all regional to the country too. When we mention Indian food, most people simply think of chicken tikka or Tandoor Chicken; this is where they are wrong as there is so much more this food. There are in fact tonnes of dishes for you to choose from.

Chicken tikka masala

More British than Indian (it’s regarded by some as the national dish of England), chicken tikka masala begins with tandoori chicken. This is where the skinless bird has been marinated in a spiced yogurt sauce. They are then cooked in the tandoor (clay oven) until juicy and smoky.

Tandoori chicken in and of itself is a wonderful dish. But Chicken tikka masala takes it one step further by simmering it in a sauce made of onions, tomatoes, and cream (or yogurt). The dish is known for its safety-cone-orange colour, usually from turmeric and paprika in the sauce, but sometimes because of added orange food colouring. Some Indian restaurants will give the tikka masala treatment to lamb or even beef, but chicken is the O.G. protein.

Butter Chicken

Butter chicken is the classic Indian truck stop dish that’s as straightforward as it sounds: Chicken gets cooked in a tomato and butter gravy (or literally just butter) until the meat is fall-off-the-bone soft. Also, Butter chicken will often look very similar to chicken tikka masala; the difference is that tikka masala has more of a complex, layered flavor from the spices, while butter chicken tastes like, well, butter, with a milder, sweeter gravy.

Korma

This is a staple on and in any UK Indian Restaurant. Korma is meat (usually chicken or lamb) braised in a garlic- and ginger-spiked yogurt sauce. It’s cooked using the low-and-slow method so that the yogurt doesn’t curdle, yielding a tender, mild stew. If your korma tastes extra rich, that’s probably because the gravy has ground cashews or almonds in it. This is so often an extra piece of flair often added to enrich the taste.

Jalfrezi

The name of the game here is sizzling meat and vegetables (or just vegetables) that have been dry-fried on very high heat with plenty of chilies. Jalfrezi is pretty spicy. This is as there’s no gravy to cut through the heat. That said, many restaurants will tone it down by adding cream or yogurt. This is a close analogue to stir-fry or fajitas, but with the piquancy levels turned way, way up.

Overall

Overall, when it comes to Indian food, there are endless dishes and you can be sure too that no one curry house will ever be the same too. The menus are so vast. From restaurant to restaurant that a curry house will have. This is a great type of cuisine. In fact, it is easy to be spoilt for choice when it comes to what you can get when you go to an Indian restaurant. Or – whether you order an Indian Takeaway. Again, this too is why people choose to eat Indian food time and time again.